Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman
Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman is the 32nd episode of The Venture Bros. and is part of Season 3. The episode's title is a reference to Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and also the film Medicine Man, in which Sean Connery's character (like Quymn) lives in the tropical rainforest researching a cure for cancer. Plot The episode begins with Dr. "Rusty" Venture flees natives in the Amazon with a gold idol, and is captured by angry natives. However, he is saved from certain doom by a mysterious woman, as he blacks out. His dream forms a flashback, at a key party thrown by Dr. Venture Senior in the 60s, a young Colonel Gentleman shows up with his wife, Ms Quymn, and daughter, Tara. While the adults have their party, she plays a jungle adventure fantasy with Rusty in the den. Back in the present, Dr. Venture wakes up to find Tara wiping his head -- Tara is now Dr. Tara Quymn, a famous scientist and adventurer in her own right. As Dr. Venture is recovering, she tells him of her life's work -- pursuing a cure for cancer, which she believes she is close to achieving. Dr. Quymn then introduces her identical twin daughters, Nancy and Drew, as well as her crass, towering and rather masculine bodyguard Virginia (or simply "Ginnie".) Hank, Dean, and Brock are seen trying to teach an orangutan how to box. Ginnie shows up and mistakes them for poachers, and Rusty tells them that he rescued the orangutan from "a cave in Thailand". Hank becomes infatuated with Nancy and Drew, who in turn become infatuated with Dean. Dean and Hank find that Nancy and Drew are kindred spirits -- they are also teens who like to solve mysteries and go on adventures. At the tribe's village, Dr. Quymn explains to Rusty that the tribesmen are wary of outsiders because a lumber company that supplies Ikea is trying to force them off of their ancestral lands. The tribe's leader claims that a wereodile (were-crocodile) attacked their village the previous night and blames Dr. Venture for its appearance, due to the fact that he stole the fertility idol (which he meekly returns). Over the next day, Ginnie makes an unsuccessful pass at Brock, who is simply not interested. The girls flirt with Dean, who is too preoccupied with this new mystery, while Hank is unable to wrest the twins' attention from his brother. While Dr. Quymn is obviously happy to see her childhood friend and a potential partner for her research, Dr. Venture's feelings run deeper and he begins to fall in love with her. An awkward kiss from Venture takes her aback -- she was either unprepared for, or repressing such feelings, and retreats back to camp. While in the jungle, Brock spots two wereodiles, and everyone returns to camp on a high state of alert. The girls and Tara go to their huts, while the Ventures go to their tents. Ginnie and Brock patrol the camp and prepare for the were-o-diles' onslaught. Back in her hut, Tara is stewing over the day's developments with Dr. Venture. Another flashback to the party shows the two children playing out an innocent portrayal of love (immersed in their jungle fantasy), which is shattered by Jonas Venture Senior and Mrs. Quymn staggering in the room drunk, making out. Tara realizes that she does in fact reciprocate Thaddeus' love, at least to a degree. Virginia senses this, and is furious, and demands that the camp guests leave immediately. Tara instead throws Ginnie out, and nervously enters Venture's tent, and asks if he would "play in my jungle fort". Virginia, frustrated at the turn of events, attempts once again to seduce Brock, and again fails. Meanwhile, Dean has immersed himself in the mystery, certain that two of the ladies in the camp are the were-o-diles. When he encounters Nancy and Drew in the forest, they entice him to come into their hut (now that Ginnie isn't supervising them), promising the solution to the mystery. Instead, the twins immediately begin to seduce Dean, who panics. In the next cabin, Dr. Venture and Tara begin to kiss and fondle each other, and Tara throws Dr. Venture on the bed. Before things can go any further, Ginnie, at this point furious over the situation, physically throws Dr. Venture out of the bed and begins to berate Tara over losing her head over a man who will end up leaving her hurt and abandoned, like all the others. Brock arrives, hearing Dr. Venture's cries for help, and begins to brawl with Ginnie (both seem to actually relish the brutal fight), and they knock over a lantern, while Dr. Quymn collapses and suffers an epileptic fit. Dean and the girls arrive to this dramatic scene, and Dean begins to beat Dr. Quymn with a chair, believing her to be the were-o-dile. Ginnie scoops up her mistress and everyone flees the burning cabin. Meanwhile, Hank is in the clearing, looking for the girls. Instead, he comes face to face with the wereodile, and starts running for his life. However, he gets caught in a trap similar to the one his father was caught in earlier, and is left powerless to stop the wereodile. Suddenly, the orangutan they were trying to train earlier attacks the wereodile and beats it senseless. The next day, the camp (and possibly the entire rain forest) has been totally burned to the ground. Dr. Quymn's contingent and Dr. Venture's contingent literally go opposite ways. Hank is a bit ill, having been "rewarded" by the natives with a warrior circumcision for his part in defeating the Were-o-dile, whereas Dr. Venture, again a loser at the game of love, wallows in misery and self-pity. After the credits, it is revealed that two of the natives were pretending to be wereodiles in an attempt to get Dr. Quymn and the others to leave. Cultural references *The episode's title is a reference to Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and also the film Medicine Man, in which Sean Connery's character (like Quymn) lives in the tropical rainforest researching a cure for cancer. *Quymn's name is a homophone with the word quim, British slang for vagina. Her first name, Tara, also sounds very close to that of Lara Croft, the heroine of the Tomb Raider video games, whom Dr. Quymn clearly resembles. *The key jar game played during Dr. Venture's party is the same game played in The Ice Storm. The Venture household itself looks similar to the setting where they play the game in the movie. *Dr. Quymn's twin daughters are named Nancy and Drew, a reference to the fictional character Nancy Drew. *Hank says he learned about "Drawing pictures and writing dirty words on them with your poop" from CSI. *One of the Quymn twins says Dean has an "Iggy Pop" body. *Ginnie calls Brock "mustang sally," a reference to Patti Smith's 1974 single, "Piss Factory" or the 1965 R&B song "Mustang Sally". *When Dean is hitting Dr. Quymn with a chair, attempting to stop her transformation, he shouts "The power of Christ compels you!" This references the horror movie The Exorcist, in which a priest attempts to exorcise a demon while shouting out the phrase. *Hank says "Frith help us," a reference to the rabbit theology used in Watership Down and its sequel. *Dr. Quymn's mother resembles Emma Peel from the British television show The Avengers. *The orangutan being trained to box by Brock Sampson and Hank Venture is named Clyde, a reference to the orangutan with the same name in the Clint Eastwood films Every Which Way but Loose and Any Which Way You Can. *When Dean accuses Brock of succumbing to lust like everyone else in the camp, he quotes Spike Lee in the his film Jungle Fever, "The both of youse got Jungle Fever. The both of youse!" *Dr. Quymn's jet looks like a pink SR-71 Blackbird. *The product tagline for Virginia Slims, "You've come a long way, baby", is spoken by Ginny just before she gives Tara a cigarette. *There are multiple references to Sean Connery, mostly due to the presence of Horace Gentleman, a character based in part on Connery. **Colonel Gentleman drives an Aston Martin, the same car popularized by Sean Connery in the James Bond films. **Gentleman suggests his date could use a smack in the face. Connery suggested it was a good idea to hit women if they deserved it in a Barbara Walters interview. **The fruit named Solomon's Heart is likely a reference to the novel King Solomon's Mines, which also feature a party of adventurers exploring a jungle, and starred Allan Quatermain; the fictional hero upon whom Col. Gentleman is (in part) based. Production notes * One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) has a "nickname" inserted into his credits. The nickname is an unusual line or word from the preceding episode. For "Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman" the credit reads Kimson "Go Team Boobies" Albert. References Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman